For the past year or so I have been incredibly stressed and I have/had no outlet other than drinking. I have/had been drinking most of the days of the week.

As those who have dabbled in such abuse of alcohol already know, getting wasted as a reprieve is temporary and you feel somewhat good only for a fraction of the time you are drunk. Then you feel like crap when you crash and most likely a good part of the next day. So not is alcohol not the solution to the problem, it exacerbates it. And there is the damage to health that comes with it.

I have tried quitting multiple times over the period but have given in every time so far. The only logical thing to do is try again. So I have been trying again. This past week I have only had two beers. I did this without flying off the handle which is a good thing. I have started working out again. This time I am taking it a bit easy so that I don’t burn out. Over the course of heavy drinking I had not been exercising at all. It’s probably me being hypochondriac but I felt like my heart was getting weaker. It wasn’t because of anything serious but when I had to exert myself like when climbing stairs or having to jog or sprint for a bit, I could notice my body not being up to the task which disappointed me. So I have started doing cardio (treadmill running) and reduced the meathead weightlifting routine. I managed to outdo my expectations during cardio and was able to jog at 8 speed for 50 minutes (two episodes of Scavenger’s Reign). 8 what? I don’t know the units but it felt good nonetheless.

It’s highly likely I will fail again. Things in the past fall apart when my old injuries flare up while working out so I will be trying to make sure that doesn’t happen. If it happens I will pay attention that it doesn’t make me spiral by maybe doing something different like walking. Hopefully after my body normalises I can go back to the occasional recreational drinking because I do enjoy doing that while watching a movie, football or just listening to music. I feel like it is taboo to say this as someone trying to quit drinking.